


The Nature of Giving

by Savay



Series: 9 Days of Sense8 [9]
Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: 9daysofsense8, F/F, F/M, M/M, clusterappreciationday, mentions of many other side characters, sense8appreciationday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 23:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11195973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Savay/pseuds/Savay
Summary: The cluster gives each other more than they know.(Written for #ClusterAppreciationDay for #9DaysofSense8. #BringBackSense8, etc etc. Please contact me if you haven't seen the petition to renew the show yet.)





	The Nature of Giving

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh this is late again because I suck at time management lol. I'm also tired as fuck after the last week or so of staying up to write, so apologies if this is kinda all over the place? It's less a plot and more a study of the cluster's connection, because I'm a sucker for their hive-mind shit.
> 
> Tumblr Link: http://timisaliar.tumblr.com/post/161804038832/the-nature-of-giving

1.

Wolfgang never used to think of himself as a giver.  (At least, not for anyone except Felix, but Felix always seemed to be the exception to Wolfgang’s rules.)  He didn’t go out of his way to be a dick to people, but he _was_ a safecracker after all.  Giving wasn’t exactly his specialty.

Then one day, a dying blonde woman appeared to him out of nowhere, and everything changed.

Now, Wolfgang has his cluster.  With them he only wants to give, never take.  He finds he starts to live for it.  Suddenly, his ruthlessness and ability to fight don’t make him feel quite as much like a monster.  Not when he can utilize those skills to save his other selves.  Felix and Wolfgang made their own trouble, but it was different with the cluster.  They were innocent.  None of the rest of them had done anything to deserve the danger they are now all in.  So he gives them everything he has.

2.

Sun has given most of her life to her family.  She supposes it was a choice, although it never really felt like it at the time.  But ultimately, it had been her choice to give herself up for her brother.  It’s a decision she regrets almost instantly.

When the cluster comes into Sun’s life, she finally feels what she’s always craved – unconditional love.  Giving to them is as easy as breathing.  She takes the years of honed skill and repressed rage, and she pushes it into her fist for her new family.  And with them, she also learns that she has something else to give.  Her ability to stay calm has saved them just as much as her fighting.  She centers them when the push and pull of emotions become too much to handle.  Sun gives this just as willingly, taking in their grateful looks to give herself more of that same peace.

3.

At first, Riley is not sure what she gives to her cluster.  She feels useless – scared and small, fighting her own mind just to survive each day.  But after everything she goes through with them (the mountain, the months of nursing Will through heroin fever dreams, the love and support she receives from her new family), Riley starts to heal.  And in healing, she finds her own strength.

Riley begins to realize that in their world of running and pain and fear, her own compassionate resilience is an asset all its own.  They have all gone through their own trials, after a fashion.  But not all of her other selves still allow themselves to love so openly.  When one of them has to push down their pain, she feels it for them.  She knows she will survive it.  (She has survived so much worse.)  Riley gives them to the ability experience the emotions they’ve hidden from for so long.

4.

It has always been in Kala’s nature to give.  It’s a large part of why she went to pharmacology school in the first place – chemistry has always spoken to her, and she wants to use that to help as many people as she can.  (She hates to admit it to herself, but it’s also why she agreed to marry Rajan in the first place.  Seeing the joy at receiving his proposal, she felt like their happiness was the best gift she could give.)

When she first found her cluster (or when they found her), she didn’t think she would be all that helpful.  But more and more, her quick mind and kind heart prove equally needed.  Soon, she finds herself using her understanding of science for them more and more.  She finds herself making medicine (and the occasional bomb) for a much less abstract good.

5.

Will didn’t use to think of what he did as giving.  He’s cop, and his job is to serve and protect after all.  (He doesn’t let himself think of it in the past tense.) The instincts that he applies to his work easily transfer to assisting the cluster, and at first he still doesn’t think of it as something he gives.  Will would use his watchful eyes and combat training for any of the citizens of Chicago he is sworn to defend, and his cluster doesn’t feel any different.

It is only when Whispers gets into his head that Will realizes what he has been providing to the others.  In hazy thoughts, for the brief moments between the cloud of one high and the needle providing the next, he worries that they won’t be safe without him.  (Or because of him.)  The ache of it is almost more painful than what the heroin does to his body.

When Will is finally sober again, it’s different.  He knows just how much his cluster needs him now, and he gives them everything he’s got.

6.

Nomi used to be wary of giving too much of herself.  The people around her didn’t understand, and the more truth she gave the worse it got.  But then Amanita comes into her life.  Nomi wants nothing more than to give Amanita everything in the world.  She puts her past behind her, doing everything to move forward and make this love work.

She faints at Pride, and Nomi’s world turns upside down.  She’s sure that she’s lost everything (including her sense of reality) until somehow a man sitting halfway across the country manages to help her break out of the hospital.  Nomi realizes that her past may be her only chance and helping any of them.

Now, Nomi gives the cluster whatever she can get them.  Information, security access, fake IDs.  She also gives them her wisdom, passing along the hard-fought lessons she learned so they won’t have to.  She realizes that for someone who wanted so badly to forget their past, she’s become awfully good at using it to help others’ futures.

7.

Capheus loves to give.  As he grows up and sees how much his mother sacrifices, his focus becomes on giving to her.  For as long as he can remember, she was his whole world.  He loves Jela and his family, and he would do anything for them, but everything he has goes to Shiro.

When the cluster first comes into his life, they are mostly helping him.  It feels weird – Capheus is not used to needing much help.  He accepts is gratefully, though.  He’s never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth.  But it positively delights him when he also realizes that he has so much to offer them.  Not only is he a mean driver, but his other selves need his optimism.  He may not be able to fight, but the ability to find the good in all things?  That Capheus has in spades.

8.

Lito has always been careful about giving.  He knows if he does it, he will put his entire heart into it, just like he does with everything else.  For a long time, the only person he gives anything to is Hernando.  (And Daniela somehow works her way in there, too.)

It takes helping his cluster for Lito to realize that he _has_ been giving the world something this entire time – his lies.  And after a lifetime of practice, he’s a damn good liar.  He’s comfortable giving this to the strangers in his head.  It’s only after getting to know them (realizing they can see straight through him) that it occurs to him he already gave them his heart long ago.

9.

After they rescue Wolfgang and the eight of them are truly together for the first time, it’s near overwhelming.  The feelings of _complete, safe, **whole**_ are staggering.  It is almost too much for any of them to handle.  But it’s good.  So good.  They’ve barely gotten back to their safe house before they are a contented tangle of limbs.  They are careful with Wolfgang, don’t want to hurt him.  But even in his barely conscious state, they know he feels it too.  The pain of his wounds mean nothing against their combined strength.  Together, they are unstoppable.


End file.
